Chapter 1639: Desolate Secret Realm

After more than ten days, Qiong Qi had finished forging the armor, the Formation Flags, and the Kuailei.

"Can the armor you forged block my arrow?" Ye Liuyun asked, holding the Hunting Demon Bow.

"What are you joking about? Do you have those materials?" Qiong Qi said disdainfully.

"What level can it reach?" Ye Liuyun pressed.

Qiong Qi thought for a moment and said, "Based on your Physical Body, plus this armor, it should guarantee you won't die!"

"Then it's a bit stronger than ordinary divine artifacts, but a bit weaker than high‑grade artifacts like Hunting Demon Armor." Ye Liuyun now had a sense of the numbers, kept one set of the armor for himself and his clone, and gave the rest to Wu Qingcheng to distribute to everyone.

Ye Liuyun collected the two Formation Flags, then went to inspect the Kuailei.

"Tian Zun Yi Chong realm?" Ye Liuyun exclaimed, astonished upon seeing the Skeleton Puppet.

The Skeleton Puppet had actually been transformed by Qiong Qi into the Tianzun Realm.

"But it requires even more energy!" Qiong Qi sighed.

"That doesn't matter; as long as it's stronger, it's fine!" Ye Liuyun was indifferent.

"Re‑input some Fire Flame Power to boost its fire resistance!" Qiong Qi reminded Ye Liuyun, feeding in a strand of Golden Crow Holy Fire.

Later, the other Metal Puppets were also upgraded to the Earth Sovereign Seventh Layer. Only the stone puppet's realm remained unchanged, still at Tian Zun Yi Chong.

"Why hasn't its realm changed?" Ye Liuyun asked, looking at the ten stone puppets.

"It can't be altered; there's no suitable material!" Qiong Qi explained. "If we change the material, we'd be better off forging it anew!"

"Oh! Fine then!" Ye Liuyun didn't press him further.

He only asked Qiong Qi, "Since everything's ready, shall we set out early?"

The Warship modified by Du Yan and others, and the Formation Plate custom‑made by Zhu Youfu, had already been delivered ahead of schedule. These people are still very reliable.

"Alright, leaving a few days early is safer!" Qiong Qi agreed.

He also worried that the Formation sealing the Secret Realm might be broken open by those Fire Spirits.

So Ye Liuyun gathered everyone, pulled them into the Space World, and together with Qiong Qi first used the Teleportation Array to rush to the vicinity of the Secret Realm, then boarded the Flying Shuttle; after a day they reached the entrance of the Secret Realm.

In a deep mountain Mi Lin, a giant tree was completely sealed by a sealing Formation, its power utterly blocked, with no fire or spatial fluctuations detectable. The only notable thing was that this tree was slightly larger than usual.

"You could even find this?" Ye Liuyun was curious about how Qiong Qi located the Secret Realm.

"Without the sealing Formation, the Fire Flame Power here is very strong. With your current Fire Flame Power, you can sense it as soon as you get close," Qiong Qi said while inspecting the sealed Formation, replying to Ye Liuyun.

Suddenly, he let out a startled "Eh?"

"What's wrong?" Ye Liuyun asked alertly, thinking perhaps the Fire Spirits had emerged.

"This seal hasn't been triggered! Do they not want to come out?" Qiong Qi speculated.

"Not necessarily! Maybe they know you'll return!" Ye Liuyun analyzed.

"That's possible; these guys have quite high spirit intelligence, don't underestimate them!" Qiong Qi reminded Ye Liuyun.

"What do we do now, go in? After entering, what about the seal—keep it active?" Ye Liuyun asked.

"We definitely have to go in, and the seal must stay in place! Otherwise, if they escape, what then?" Qiong Qi said.

His subordinates hurriedly began to unseal the Formation.

About a quarter of an hour later, Qiong Qi lifted the seal, letting Ye Liuyun guard the spot while he went inside to check the situation.

Ye Liuyun immediately released the others, surrounding the entrance to prevent the Fire Spirits from rushing out all at once.

Qiong Qi drew his Broken Copper Cauldron, held it before him, and charged in.

But he quickly ran back out, calling to Ye Liuyun and the others, "Everyone come in, they're not there!"

Ye Liuyun wondered inwardly, "These Fire Spirits neither attack the seal nor guard the entrance; could it be they truly don't want to emerge?"

At that moment he led everyone in, entering the Secret Realm one after another.

The Secret Realm stretched out like a desert at a glance—barren, covered with yellow sand and stones everywhere!

The scorching air made one feel suffocated instantly.

Man Shu, Wu Qingcheng and the other ice‑type Martial Cultivators immediately used Ice Power to defend. The fire‑type Martial Cultivators, however, felt a bit excited; perhaps they could boost their Fire Flame Power here.

After Qiong Qi resealed the entrance, he had Ye Liuyun bring out the Warship.

"Use the Warship to speed up, so no one wastes True Essence," Qiong Qi suggested after seeing the ice‑type Martial Cultivators depleting True Essence to resist the heat.

Ye Liuyun also kept a mental note of the coordinates, so they could teleport back here or to Moyu Yi Cheng at any time.

After the group boarded the Warship, Ye Liuyun had the Metal Puppets pilot it toward the depths of the Secret Realm.

"Did you see any fire source last time?" Ye Liuyun chatted with Qiong Qi.

Qiong Qi shook his head, "We hadn't even seen a fire source before they surrounded us. There were too many; we couldn't kill them all!"

Qiong Qi's expression was now serious, constantly using Divine Sense to vigilantly scan the surroundings!

"Then how are you cultivating your realm?" Ye Liuyun asked, puzzled.

"Aren't those Fire Spirits just resources? Beneath the surface sand is all Lava; we just have to dig deeper," Qiong Qi explained.

Hearing that, Ye Liuyun wanted to go down the Warship to take a look.

Qiong Qi pulled him back, "Why are you in a hurry! The sand here is thick, getting thinner the deeper you go! Just follow my instructions; there are plenty of opportunities for you to cultivate!"

In fact, Ye Liuyun wanted to see how dangerous the Lava here was to others.

But there's no rush now; they can check when they reach the deeper part of the Secret Realm.

Ye Liuyun also released his Divine Sense, scouting around for any sign of Fire Spirits.

Yet within the range of his Divine Sense, there was only yellow sand and barren hills, no creatures at all. Not even a ghostly silhouette, let alone Fire Spirits.

"Why haven't we seen any Fire Spirits?" Ye Liuyun asked Qiong Qi, puzzled.

Qiong Qi laughed, "What did I just tell you? You definitely can't find them on the surface!"

Ye Liuyun then realized. The Fire Spirits were actually hidden within the Lava beneath the yellow sand.

"In that case, if they don't emerge from the Lava, they'll be hard to locate!" Ye Liuyun sighed.

"Yeah! But they've definitely already discovered we came in. They're just preparing how to attack us!" Qiong Qi reminded Ye Liuyun and the others.

Ye Liuyun immediately ordered the Metal Puppets to activate the Warship's Defense Array. At the same time he raised the Warship's flight altitude so it wouldn't be too close to the ground and be ambushed by the enemy.